The Defense Minister of Georgia, Mindia Djanelidze, told journalists that the principle decision on the opening of a joint NATO training center in the country has been made; at the moment they are choosing the place where it will be built. Consultations are being held at the highest level. The deputy Secretary General of NATO, the experienced American diplomat Alexander Vershbow, has recently visited Tbilisi. He conducted serious negotiations with the president, the prime minister, the speaker of parliament and the defense minister of the country, making it clear that the decision on the NATO training center is final. Vershbow also visited one of the possible places for construction – the former Russian military base of Vaziani in Tbilisi’s suburbs. He was satisfied with the site.
Meanwhile, representatives of NATO try to explain (apparently, primarily to Moscow) what the function of the military facility will be. The permanent envoy of the alliance to the South Caucasus, James Appathurai, states that “the NATO training center is not directed against Russia. Its importance is symbolic and has nothing in common with the situation over security in the region. The center’s goal is conducting training and providing better capacities and skills which military experienced Georgia can share.” It seems NATO is helping Georgia to establish a center where not NATO instructors, but Georgian soldiers will train military personnel from distant African countries.
The interpretation of the further functions of the training center as “a symbolic facility” doesn’t meet Georgia’s views, where the opening of any NATO military facility is thought to be an important step toward NATO’s involvement in Georgian affairs and a guarantee of security. Moreover, the diminishing of the center’s role by the NATO special envoy contradicts Vershbow’s statements in Tbilisi. He spoke about a direct connection between the training center and the Ukrainian events and another step by Georgia toward NATO membership. Vershbow stressed that the military facility will be open to other NATO members and partner countries of the alliance. The decision on building the center was written in the final declaration of the Wales summit of the alliance along with other decisions on strengthening cooperation between Georgia and NATO made last year. Two other duties – joint military exercises and increasing the number of employees in NATO's communications office – have already been fulfilled.
Commenting on Russia’s negative reaction to the training center in Georgia, Vershbow repeated the well-known thesis that Russia has no veto right in the alliance: “We’ll see what the Russians will undertake; but we won’t let them block our legitimate decisions.”
Alexander Vershbow also criticized Russia for its policy in Ukraine, confirming that NATO’s steps in Georgia are a direct consequence of certain intensified processes in the post-Soviet space.
